The National Day of Prayer, which was one of the activities planned to mark St. Kitts and Nevis’ 35th anniversary of Independence, sought to inspire and elevate in all of us faith, hope and love in and for God.
The Wesleyan Holiness Church in Basseterre was one of the churches that organized special prayer gatherings, including corporate prayer and spiritual challenges, during the day. The Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister spoke with the Reverend Sylvester Herbert who dubbed the initiative as a “very meaningful exercise.”
“This really should be an annual feature because we always need prayer, we always need to depend on God for our social lives and other situations that we face and I felt very good to see so many different people from all walks of life coming to the church. So one of the things I was very heartened about is that there is this sense among our people, at least from those who came out, that there is a need for us to depend on God for our own national well-being,” Reverend Herbert disclosed.
The church leader stated that it was a busy day at the Wesleyan Holiness Church, stating, “I was at the church from 6am and a spent most of the day there and quite a number of people turned up. We had three sets of corporate prayer where spiritual challenges were also given that was at 6am, 12 noonand at 5pm.”
Pastor Prisca Hyligar of the Evangelistic Faith Church in Sandy Point was also pleased with the staging of the National Day of Prayer. Pastor Hyligar stated, “During the morning and the earlier part of the afternoon we had persons coming and going, coming and going. Some stayed long while others prayed and left but I think in the future what I would recommend is that prior to the National Day of Prayer we give it a little more advertisement so that we can reach even more people.”
Among the things persons prayed for throughout the day, according to Reverend Herbert, were the nation’s youth and the continued well-being of the nation.
“One of the focal point was the youth of our nation—they featured significantly in all of the sessions. We also prayed for the leadership of the nation, the Government as well as the Opposition; we prayed for protection during this hurricane season; we also focused on those who would have lost loved ones via violent deaths and in relation to our youth, we prayed against gang violence and people who are inclined to get involved in antisocial behaviour and so on,” Reverend Herbert said.
Leaders of Government also participated in the National Day of Prayer, as Reverend Dr. Calvin Hazel, Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Tabernacle, led members of the Team Unity administration in a prayer session during a formal meeting of the Cabinet at Government Headquarters.
